As the global economy continues to strengthen, and working-age population remains stagnant, tightening labor markets will become a growing concern in many major economies in 2018. By 2019 labor market tightness could reach levels not seen for decades especially in the US, China, Japan, UK and several countries in Central and Eastern Europe. With the large generation of baby boomers continuing to leave the labor force in large numbers for 10-15 more years, labor shortages are likely to get worse before they get better, and may become a drag on growth if governments and employers are not able to accelerate their capacity to produce. In this report we describe the current state of the labor market in advanced economies and discuss what employers can do to tackle the challenges that lie ahead.